Boston attacks: Addressing the threat within

The evidence that those responsible for the April 15 terrorist attack in Boston were two Islamic jihadists living legally in the United States – with the surviving suspect a U.S. citizen who could scarcely have seemed more Americanized – is a jarring blow to our conventional perceptions. We have been accustomed to thinking of the terrorist threat from a 9/11 paradigm – foreign extremists targeting Americans and symbols of America abroad and at home. Now we must appreciate that jihadist rhetoric has appeal for some Muslims in the U.S. and not just those beyond our borders.

We won’t be the first Western nation to have to come to grips with this unsettling reality.

After 191 people were killed on March 11, 2004, in the coordinated bombing of four commuter trains in Madrid, Spanish authorities discovered the massacre was mostly the work of what Spain’s terrorism czar called “a homegrown mix of Islamic extremists and common criminals.”

After 53 people were killed on July 7, 2005, in the coordinated bombing of four commuter trains and buses in London, British authorities quickly determined the brutal assaults were executed by four suicide bombers who lived near London – young men who had led seemingly placid, normal lives, yet were devoted to jihad against the West.

Since then, both nations have struggled to balance increased scrutiny of their Muslim populations with an appropriate sensitivity to the fact that the vast majority of Muslim residents are not mass murderers in waiting but people with the same interest in family, work and community as the rest of us.

In the wake of the Boston attacks, we appear on track to have a multifaceted debate dealing with these same issues and more.

There will be those who downplay the terrorism at the marathon finish site, noting that far more people died in the blast last week at a Texas fertilizer plant.

There will be those who urge a “hearts and minds” approach to Muslims in the U.S., perhaps even a change in U.S. foreign policy, which carries an implied assumption that America invited “blowback” with its wars abroad.

There will be those who say that any Muslim who has been to any of many al-Qaeda hot spots around the world or who has ever visited a jihad website should be subject to 24/7 monitoring.

Somehow, President Barack Obama and our nation’s political leaders have to process these varied views and come up with policies that keep us safe but don’t marginalize, embitter and repress the 2.6 million Muslims who have chosen to live in the United States. We hope the experiences of Britain and Spain inform their decision-making.

And while our leaders shape these policies, they must also demand improvement in how our authorities execute existing policies.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said Monday that the FBI told him that the agency was unaware of the six-month trip to Russia taken by Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the bombing suspect who was killed last week, because his name was misspelled on a flight manifest.

This has painful echoes of 9/11 and all the missed signals in the months leading up to that horrible day. We deserve more competence in our battle with terrorism – and we must have it.